Review: Teaching Analogies on Teachers Pay Teachers

Teaching Analogies is a free downlaod from Teachers Pay
Teachers. The file is a PowerPoint presentation containing a lesson plan for
teaching students about analogies, which are language exercises comparing two
pairs of items that are otherwise dissimilar.

Analogies are an important part of a well-rounded language
skill set. The ability to analyze two seemingly unrelated pieces of information
to find the link is a higher level skill that will also strengthen critical
thinking, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and language creativity.

This PowerPoint teaches students a visual technique to
dissect an analogy and fill in the missing word. It includes a graphic
organizer called a “bridge map” that gives a visual structure to the analogy
and the lesson.

Anyone who has taken the SAT has been exposed to analogies,
but many students don’t master the skill. This lesson is an effective breakdown
of analogies, taking students step by step through the process of decoding an
analogy by starting with information they know and then determining the link.
The bridge map is helpful and is likely to be known by today’s English
teachers, though it would certainly be easy to teach to without prior exposure
to it.

While the presentation is designed to be a lesson plan for
teachers to deliver to students, a self-directed learner could easily follow
the file to study analogies on his or her own. This may be something that could
be a tremendous benefit to the practicing writer.

Bryan Cohen is the author of more than 30 books, many of which focus on creative writing and blasting through that pesky writer's block. His books have sold more than 20,000 copies. You can find him on Google+ and Facebook.

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